Quick Shots: Injuries no excuse for White Sox fade in September

Saturday

Sep 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMSep 27, 2008 at 2:54 AM

The White Sox have no injury excuses. First of all, the Sox lead the Majors in fewest trips to the disabled list since 2002. Secondly, Tampa Bay has had more injuries than any team in the American League, yet still went from worst to first in the East. Thirdly, for every Sox injury, the rival Twins have had a worse one.

Matt Trowbridge

The White Sox have no injury excuses.

First of all, the Sox lead the Majors in fewest trips to the disabled list since 2002. Secondly, Tampa Bay has had more injuries than any team in the American League, yet still went from worst to first in the East. Thirdly, for every Sox injury, the rival Twins have had a worse one.

Chicago lost 100-RBI man Carlos Quentin for a month? One of only two Twins with a 100-RBI season (Michael Cuddyer) missed two months. The Sox lost No. 5 starter Jose Contreras for two months. The Twins lost ace Francisco Liriano for four months. The Sox lost setup man Scott Linebrink for six weeks. The Twins lost setup man Pat Neshek in early May. Joe Crede missed one-third of the season for the Sox. The Twins’ starting third baseman, shortstop and second baseman all missed close to a month.

“What if the Cubs lost Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee and Ted Lilly?” Chicago Tribune news columnist John Kass wrote this week as a comparison.

Well, they’d plug in Micah Hoffpauir and Mike Fontenot, who rank first and third on the Cubs in OPS, and Sean Marshall (.3.62 ERA). And the Cubs did lose their leading home run hitter and most expensive player, Alfonso Soriano, for longer than the Sox lost Quentin.

Williams good -- but flawed -- GM

Sounds like the White Sox are going to extend GM Kenny Williams’ contract. He deserves it for adding Carlos Quentin and Alexei Ramirez alone. But, as I wrote after the 2006 season, Jim Hendry is better.

Hendry inherited a last-place team and led the Cubs to three division titles in 6 ½ seasons. Williams inherited a defending division champ and, unless the Sox catch the Twins, will have made the playoffs just once in eight years.

Despite a top-five payroll the last three years -- $121 million this year, $3 million more than the Cubs – his teams have finished behind low-budget Minnesota in seven of his eight years.

Babich's only mistake was not stopping Griese

The Bears were 26-1 when leading in the fourth quarter under former defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, the Chicago Tribune reports. But five of their last six losses have come after leading in the fourth, putting pressure on current coordinator Bob Babich.

It’s hard to blame Babich, though, when Chicago’s defense has looked so good for the first three quarters.

Well, there is one reason to blame Babich. The Bears let Brian Griese, who looks horrible throwing to the sidelines, throw repeatedly between the numbers in last week’s loss. That’s the one huge black mark against Babich this year.

Bears should rest banged-up Harris

Too much is made of Tommie Harris’ knee, mostly because too much is made of Tommie Harris.

He’s not the best defensive tackle in the NFL, as his teammates and Chicago media bill him. He’s not even the best in his division: Minnesota’s Kevin Williams is a three-time All-Pro; Harris has never been All-Pro.

Harris has two tackles in three games; his knee is obviously slowing him. So sit him. Dusty Dvoracek and Israel Idonije are better-than-average defensive tackles and rookie Marcus Harrison shows promise.

Suggestion for Sox' CF woes

Here’s a suggestion for Kenny Williams’ next big move: If Mark Teixera leaves the Angels, trade Paul Konerko – who almost signed with the Angels – for demoted center fielder Gary Matthews Jr.

Nick Swisher could then switch to first base. Or else he could move Swisher. But the Sox need a center fielder and they don’t need both Swisher and Konerko.

Baseball playoffs shouldn't be on cable

The best thing to happen to baseball was when ESPN and all the cable networks began showing games and highlight shows every day of the week.

But selling playoff games to cable means many fans will miss the entire first round of the playoffs, which will all be shown on TBS. That’s not good for baseball in the long run.

Matt Trowbridge's Quick Shots on Sports appear Sundays. He can be reached at: 815-987-1383 or mtrowbridge@rrstar.com

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